It Started with One Piece and Naruto

Sometimes I wonder just how the trend started. The strange trope for shounen anime and manga that I don't know exactly how to classify it. I guess it's better to explain it. So, One Piece the manga/anime about Luffy the boy who wants to be King of the Pirates, and Naruto the boy who so desperately wants to be Hokage. 

It's this, the theme of a protagonist who wants to be more, they want to be in a position of power. I can name a few other anime that follow this trend, Fairy Tail, Magi: The Adventure of Sinbad, Blue Exorcist, Attack on Titan & Boku no Hero Academia to some extent and Black Clover as of recent.

These anime are popular shounen anime that follow that trope where the main protagonist is actually over powered, but has 0 skill. Or that can access their power for some reason, that or they don't know how to use it powered or to it's fullest potential. On top of all that because they are underestimated and looked down upon they have this urge to be in a position of power. Did I mention that they're almost always orphans or they have one parents or their parents die early in the show, what's with that? 

These anime thrive on the power of friendship, having self confidence by believing in yourself, and essentially never giving up.

The motif is so strong that it's sometimes so overwhelming it makes the anime corny. The attempt at making it relateable by having an underdog who has to rise up and doesn't know his true potential, and learn from his mentors and friends. That just becomes the whole anime with the plot kind of woven in there to give it subtext. They just throw it on there like "here's the plot, but it's really about friendship." Now I'm not saying that this makes the anime bad, but knowing this set up can sometimes make it boring because it can become predictable. Friends become villain, villains become friends. The protagonist is always awe inspiring, and revving his friends up for the give fight. These characters are most times loud obnoxious, and super overzealous.

Earlier anime, I can't really remember if they ever had this trend of the young boy wanting to be in a position of power.Those anime often had the lone wolf trope. The main character had their own demons they had to solve and even though they were surrounded by people they were always alone. It seemed like they purposefully isolated themselves to some extent. Some examples of the lone wolf types are Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, YuYu Hakusho, Rurouni Kenshin, and Beserk. Somewhere during Naruto that would be Sasuke, in Sinbad, Darkon, and Yuno would represent the sullen lone wolf in Black Clover. 

the late 90's and early 2000's there was a shift in the theme. I know that around the time of the lone wolf anime the 'cowboy' was a pretty big thing, especially with Clint Eastwood around, and thus the emergence of these types of characters. Though when the shift happened, the lone wolf became the secondary character within the new trope. In

It was almost as if the artist decided to stop focusing on the lone wolf type and instead on their funny friend who is sometimes comedic relief.

Now can i tell you why the trope changed so suddenly, not really, they were probably just moving with the times. I guess it's just that I'm waiting for it to end, that's assuming it ever will. The trope was one of the reasons why I couldn't finish anime like Fairy Tail and Naruto Shippuden. (Of course there are other reasons this is just one of many).

It's also why I struggled to watch Black Clover. It just seems so over done and played out. Of course this is just a personal opinion. Boku no Hero Academia is amazing though!

Anyway, I'm going to go watch anime!